Between Two Unknowns
by thesirenwriter
Summary: Death had never needed to pray for eternity, but then, Minako had never needed to pray for Death. Ryoji/Minako. Oneshot series.
1. Rascals

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Persona 3, there would have been another alternate ending. Just saying.

**A/N:** So, I intend for this to be a series of one-shots, but with fanfics I just have to wait for inspiration to strike. Hopefully it won't be too long between posts. And just, AAAAHHH. This pairing. I don't cry at sad movies or books or anything, but these two. These two kill me every single time. I hope I do them justice.

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**I. Rascals**

"Do you think I'm troublesome?" he asks one day as they sit on the riverbank, his head resting in her lap. His eyes are closed, and he's smiling. It's a gentle expression - one that reminds her of warm morning light, falling through the curtains and across her bed.

She thinks for a moment, absently rubbing the edge of his scarf between her fingers.

"I think . . . I'm going to have my hands full with you," she decides.

That smile takes a mischievous turn.

One eye peels open, slowly.

"Sounds good to me."

". . ."

"Hm?"

"Ryoji!"

She gives his scarf a little yank, and he laughs, pulling at the fabric around his neck and then at her wrists. His hair is all ruffled in the back now, and it flares around his head. In that moment, he looks _so_ young.

"However you think I meant it, I didn't mean it that way – Minako! Okay, okay – I'm at your mercy!"

She laughs too, easily swatting his hands away.

* * *

A short while later they are quiet again, and she watches the water as the light plays across it. Peace is so strange to her now, after so many nights in a row exploring Tartarus. Secretly she hopes that the others will be too tired to want to go at it again. That nap she took during composition barely helped her at all, and her arm is sore.

Ryoji's hand slips under hers and gathers it up, brings it to his lips.

"I feel better now," he says quietly.

She looks down at him. His eyes are closed, expression content.

"Were you not feeling well earlier?" she asks.

"Huh? No. I mean, I wasn't ill or anything. Just this feeling I had, but it's gone now." Still holding it, he rests her hand on his chest and turns his head to look out at the water. He sighs, wistful. "I wish we could just stay here."

She brushes hair out of his face with her free hand. "We can come back tomorrow. Oh – no, we can't. I have plans with Rio . . . Ryoji, don't pout."

"You shouldn't get my hopes up like that."

"Oh, poor you. Hang out with Junpei - he was complaining about not having plans."

"Okaaaay."

She sighs with feigned annoyance. "You _are_ troublesome."

He beams up at her. "You wouldn't love me if I wasn't."

Minako gives his scarf another small, threatening yank, and he catches her other hand. Keeps it.

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**Ta-da! Another one-shot completed. Thanks, and please drop me a review if you can!**


	2. Everything

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Persona 3 . . . December 31st would have gotten much more attention after the Fortune Social Link.

**A/N:** I will NEVER stop writing alternative versions of December 31st scenes. Especially since I'm not all-together pleased with this one, but I loved some parts of it enough to post. It's choppy, but choppiness gives it personality (oh, don't mind me, I'm justifying it to myself).

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**II. Everything**

It is December 31st, and she says no.

_And they are both so tired, so drowned by tears. Ragged and broken. But she is mending, will mend. Will squeeze the pieces of her heart together and find a way to forge a happy ending. Will find, down a long and winding road, a way back to him_.

And he is Thanatos, then, a fanged representation of Death floating in the very same room where they held hands, talked quietly to each other about forever. And somewhere behind the featureless mask of his Shadow, she knows that he is in pain. More pain than he has ever felt. More pain than dying would inflict.

"Look at me, Minako. Don't sacrifice your happiness, what small peace I can give you, for _this_."

_And oh, how he hates himself. How many hours has he stood on the railing at the top of Gekkoukan High School and wished he could tip forward and disappear forever. _

_Please. Because if you don't kill me, I'll-_

"I'm sorry," she says, tucking her chin down, closing her eyes and trying to bundle together all the fear and heartache and transform them into words. "I just . . . You're not – you're not a monster, Ryoji. There's nothing you could do to convince me."

She looks at him. Knows that this sight, so inhuman, abominate, could strike a person dead. And it is not just the sight, but the feeling. He radiates it. A wrongness.

_The boy with the yellow scarf – what was his name? – he emerges from a sea of school girls and asks if she knows a place that serves good coffee. _

_He has such a kind smile._

Despite everything, Minako grins. It's a nervous thing – as flustered as bird feathers. It quivers at the edges. "Besides, I'm just too selfish to kill you, you know? I couldn't bear that."

"I don't want to hurt you," he says. She finds the softness of his voice, hidden deep in its distortion.

She tells him, "You won't."

_We'll fix this. The two of us are stronger than fate._

"But I can't promise you forever," he tells her numbly, and it sounds like something that has passed through his mind far too many times. He collapses back into Ryoji again, looking away from her, face buried is his scarf. _She loves that scarf._ "I can't even promise you a month. In half an hour, this, who I am right now, will all be a memory. And when the Fall happens . . . Minako."

She has ghosted over to his side, and laid her head very gently against his collarbone. It feels safe there.

"You told me I was perfect, once," she says quietly. "That I was everything. And I really doubt that that's the case. But if you thought I was – for even just a second – then maybe it's true enough. Maybe I can be _just enough_ to save you. That's what I want, Ryoji. I don't want to kill you to save myself. And killing you won't save the world. But maybe saving you would."

He presses his lips to the top her head, briefly. "You _are_ everything."

He chuckles.

"It's ridiculous. I can almost feel it. Hope. And me, the most hopeless of causes."

_But he knows they're destined for tragedy. He knew that the first time she took his hand._

_But he couldn't crush her now. Not when he can still stop himself._

"I'll tell you how to fight her," he says. Because it's all he _can_ say.

* * *

***Sighs* I'm replaying P3 right now, and whenever I see Pharos I just go "RYOOOOJIIIII *SOBS*" - it's a bad habit. **


End file.
